toddler time...

bowie is funny about toddler time, some days she spends most of her time in the snack room but days like today she took full advantage of the place and had a ball.  she loved dressing up as snow white (this is 1st for her with the dress up) and had fun making christmas ornaments.  she didn't even want to leave.  hope this means a good nap for her!

turn overs...

originally had a play date scheduled at a friends house today, but her daughter is really sick, so she cancelled and i offered for the other mom to come over to my house.  of course the house is kinda messy and i don't have much food in the house.  when i have morning play dates i like to have some sort of pastry and coffee for us moms to enjoy.  i didn't have much time to run to the store and to be honest, it was too cold to leave the house.  so i looked around to see what i could whip together.  i could do muffins, but that seemed like too much work.  but i found a package of pilsbury crescent rolls and i always have raspberry jam!  this sounded like the pepperidge farm turn overs my mom used to buy.  i used 2 rolls to form a rectangle and a big tablespoon of jam in the middle and closed the seams with a fork.  baked at 350 degrees until golden brown (sorry forgot the after pic) and i had "homemade turnovers."  my friend was impressed that i "baked," and they were pretty tasty. 

reindeer festival...

this week we met some friends at the cougar mountain zoo in issaquah for their reindeer festival.  bowie enjoyed feeding the reindeers apple slices and was curious about santa but didn't feel like getting too close.  it was a cold morning, 37 degrees, we bundled up and also got to see the cougars, tigers, alpacas, birds and lemurs.

cookie exchange!

last weekend i went to my first ever cookie exchange.  it was a fun brunch with my girlfriend and her family.  i made cracker toffee, or most people call it "christmas crack."  i made 3 batches for the party and 2 for jarad's office.  and i came home from the party with all these goodies!

"popcorn"

bowie loves the disney christmas movie "mickey's twice upon a christmas."  she particularly loves this scene with the popcorn!

clicklist!

this is my favorite mom hack so far...clicklist!  we have a massive grocery store called "fred meyer" here and it is owned by kroger, but has many departments in it.  it is more like a one stop shop kinda deal with a clothing department, jewelry department, home department, garden department, etc.  it can be overwhelming to get in and out of there and i always find that check out takes FOREVER!!!  our local fred meyer just started a new program called "clicklist" where you can shop online for your groceries and then drive into designated spots and pick them up during a time slot.  it is fantastic and such a time saver!  they have your shopping history online since it is linked to your card (kinda creepy) but it takes a few minutes to create my order (since i buy the same items regularly) and then i don't even have to get out of my car!  so convenient.  the service costs $4.95 per visit, but your first 3 times are free!  i try to use these on my big orders, but even as frugal as i am, i will gladly pay the $5 to not have to go into fred meyers, it takes me on average 1.5 hours to do my shopping, and with bowie in tow, no thank you!

so this morning, i woke up early and have already placed my grocery shopping order.  i will pick it up between 11-12pm and get on my way.  i have a cookie exchange party tomorrow and need this extra time to bake! 

this is a new mom hack for me, but i love it!  and like i said i am happy to pay the $5 for the convenience of it.  but compared to many other similar services this is cheap.  after talking to some of my girlfriends they pay around $12 for this service at walmart and amazon fresh.  it is also a good way to stick to your list since you are not making any impulse purchases,win win!

chair!

jarad built our beautiful rustic farmhouse dinning room table in time for thanksgiving last year.  since then i have been on the search to find interesting and unique chairs to put around the table.  i think i have done a good job so far, but i have been stuck on finding the perfect chair for the other head of the table.  i wanted something with a beautiful back and arm rests.  for some reason this has been particularly hard to find.  i always keep my eye out at goodwill, varage sale and garage sales in summer, but i had the idea this week to post on my buy nothing group.  best idea ever!  this woman said posted a pic of a cool chair that was left behind in her home and she has no need for it, and it totally fit the bill!  i picked it up this evening and will re-upholster it, but it makes the perfect addition to our table and i can finally stop looking for the last chair!